Identity Crisis Redux
by Aeroga
Summary: Trying to be a Pokemon Trainer isn't easy when you have DOD on your tail for running away from home, a person sending you cryptic messages in your sleep, and a trainer who named their Tyranitar "Fluffy" who is determined to impede your process. At least that's what a 16 year old boy in the Witness protection program discovers when he runs away from Unova to Johto.
1. What Children Dream Of

**IDENTITY CRISIS REDUX**

_ARC I: THE ESPCAPE FROM UNOVA_**  
**

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT CHILDREN DREAM OF...

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"Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind. Ain't life unkind?"

-The Rolling Stones

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I'm sure you've heard everything there is to hear when it comes to "sob stories". Quite frankly they annoy me. People are constantly trying to make their lives sound like the most tragic thing to go down in history. I'm positive there are plenty of other people who will tell you the same thing. "My grandad was eaten by a school of vicious shiny wooper" or "My mom and dad died trying to put a stop to Team Tragedy". My story isn't so much as tragic as other peoples, and it isn't much of a "sob story" because I rarely ever cry at least more than four times.

When I was no older than ten, I had dreams. Stupid petty dreams like becoming Champion of Kanto or meeting Blaine and getting his autograph. I wanted to be Pokemon Trainer. I wanted to get eight badges and take on the Elite Four. I told myself, the way every other ten year old tells themselves, that I would be the very best. No one would surpass me. Unfortunately to say, I never got that chance- for my life was changed over night and my dreams became nothing but.

July 14th, as some of you may know, is Bring Your Kid to Work Day in Kanto. It might seem irrelevant at this moment, but you'll see why it is so "relevant" in a minute.

July 14th had barely begun when I decided to go downstairs and get a drink. I spent a long time in bed wondering if I should go. I was convinced that somewhere in the darkness a bunch of gastly had taken a liking to our house and decided to haunt it. My parents told me it was all apart of my imagination and not to worry about a thing. That didn't exactly reassure me that there _weren't_ ghost Pokemon living in the shadows and waiting for the opportune moment to strike, but I let my myself be swayed regardless of the fact. I tiptoed down the stairs slowly in an effort not to awaken my sleeping parents. I immediately noticed that the front door was wide open. I was tempted to shut it, but I didn't. And thank, Arceus I didn't.

I crept passed the open door, a small breeze from the hot summer night blew in as I did. I headed towards the kitchen, when I heard some muffled noises. A pit of fear formed in my stomach and I realized that there were ghost Pokemon in the house and that my parents had been lying to me. Only one of those were correct, however. I was about to find out soon and the hard way.

At first my ten year old brain tried to convince itself that I was just hearing things. That nothing was there. The noises got a bit louder and this time I realized that it was someone talking. I couldn't hear what they were really saying so I moved closer toward the dining room. I kept as close to the wall as I could possibly get and moved against the wall. I barely managed to stick my head from around the corner when my heart leapt in my chest.

It turns out it wasn't ghost Pokemon afterall, but rather the notorious Team Rocket. Evil doers in Kanto who stole and killed people for their Pokemon. Apparently they also excelled in torturing too.

My parents were bound together, back to back, with duck tape across their mouth and rope on their arms and legs. My mother's face was streaked with tears, and she was sporting a black eye. My father had a huge gash on his forehead. Blood trickled down onto the floor. It was a wonder he was still even conscious. He gripped onto my mother's tiny hands the best he could while being tied up.

The man standing before him I had seen on countless occasions. He was my parent's "boss". He told me to call him Uncle Giovanni though we were in no way related by blood. He said it had a certain ring to it and "besides, we're all family now aren't we?". But right then, with him holding a gun to my mother head, he wasn't being rather family-like. Neither were the two Rocket Grunts standing beside him with smug grins on their faces.

"Team Rocket has a strict no traitor policy," said the man who I'd really thought was actually awesome before this whole mess happened. "Forrest, Jade, I'm rather disappointed to think that you would rat us out to the police so you could leave Team Rocket. Shame. I had high expectations of you and your son."

No kid ever wants to believe that their parents are involved in something so heinous. But the facts were punching me in the gut. It all made sense though. My parents strange work hours. How they would come home with new Pokemon whenever they went on their business meetings. If I hadn't been so blind I might've seen it.

My parent's eyes narrowed at the word son. But Giovanni was on a roll to even notice their grim expressions. "I've told you and so many others before that our reach extends far beyond incompetent thieves looking to get rich quickly. We are Team Rocket. How do you think we've gotten away with so much? We certainly are not that lucky." He tapped the gun playfully against my mother's shoulder. "This meeting of ours has been a bit prolonged. I have other matters to attend to." He held up the gun to my mother's head and pumped the trigger.

That was the first time I saw so much blood, or for that matter seen someone get murdered. It was scary. A mixture of blood and brains coated the back of my father's head and back. Though he remained so strong for so long, my father broke down. Tears started to stream down his face. His wife had just died and now he was going too also. Unknown to him, his son would be watching them die- horror plastered across his face. I sobbed softly into my hands as Giovanni pulled trigger and my father went lifeless. That would be the last time I ever cried.

And the world stopped spinning for me at that moment.

"Go find their son," he told one of the Rockets standing beside him still filled with glee despite the fact someone had been murdered before them.

They turned in my direction and I quickly scrambled out of view. I dove into the living room and squeezed behind the couch. If they found me, I was going to die. I didn't want to die. I had to become the greatest Pokemon Trainer ever and avenge my parents deaths. At least that's what ten year old me was thinking. Reality would eventually slap me out of that.

Once I was sure they were all upstairs and clambered from behind my hiding spot and fled.

I doubt anyone saw a crying boy in pajamas flee into the darkness that night.

I'd like to tell you that it got better from that point on, but it didn't. The head of the police task force in Lavender Town was actually a Rocket himself as I learned the hard way. Thankfully some clean cops came to my rescue before the man's Nidoking had a chance to drill its horn through my stomach.

Anyway, I became the star witness in the case that the feds had been building against Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket. The feds placed me in a safe house where they assured me that no one would be able to harm me. Which was a flat out lie since it seemed like everyone was out to get me, as I also learned the hard way.

Moved from safe house to safe house in the following months, I changed. Things that might've seemed horrifying to other people of any age were no longer to me. In fact, blood didn't even make me cringe. Nor did seeing a Rocket's Rhydon tear apart one of the Marshalls overseeing my safety.

Eventually the day everyone had been waiting for came. The day Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket and Gym Leader of Viridian City, had been captured. Apparently a young boy by the name of Red took on Giovanni and the lot of Rockets to save the people of Splish Co. It was hard to believe considering he was around my age.

The trial came and went. I stood in front of Giovanni 13 times. Not once did I cry or put on the whole "my-parents-were-murdered-pity-me" act. But people still did regardless of the fact. A child psychologist told the jurors that I "would most likely never get over this". Which was a lie. I already had.

My parents were liars. Liars and Rockets. A perfect combination if I ever saw one. They told me they worked for an exporting company. Maybe Rockets did specialize in the exportation of rare species, but that still didn't make me feel better. They were Rockets no matter which way you looked at it. Guess what that made me? An orphaned son of two dead Rockets that decided to go good to change their lives. They had done horrific things that might've made any other person vomit, as i soon learned on trial. They weren't special or the exception. That made me hate them more.

The jurory found him guilty of all charges. All 100 different charges, varying from murder to jaywalking. Seriously.

I thought after the trial was done things would go back to normal. They didn't. The government placed me in the Witness Protection program permanently. Rockets were more pissed that their leader was in jail, rotting away for the rest of his life, than when he was trial. It was far too dangerous for me to stay with a family member till the whole mess blew over. No one would take me anyway. So they changed my name and moved me elsewhere.

My life got progressively worse from that point on. My name would change constantly and the lies would grow deeper and deeper. I started to lose track of who I really was. Was I Roland Turner from Viridian City or Francis Grants from Celadon City? In the beginning I was moved quite a bit from my inability to lie casually. Sometimes I accidentally spoke my real name and people would remember me. Other times, I'd come across Rockets who _knew_ it was me and cue the running for my life once more.

After a while I got the hang of the lying. But I still did slip up on purpose once because I hated Solaecon Town and the stupid beady eye children that would come and go through town with their Pokemon.

Speaking of Pokemon, I was prohibited from having one. The Marshalls would tell me over and over everytime I asked that they could always change my identity but a Pokemon was a different story. They could hack into the NTR and trace from the pokéball bin number to who it belonged too. How they would even get my pokéball in the first place was a wonder to me.

Thus began my hatred of the Marshall Service.

But I had a plan. One that would require an overwhelming amount of patience and for me to be in Unova. A plan that no Marshall would ever see coming.

I would be a Pokemon Trainer. Maybe not the best, but I would be one. Even if I got killed in the process.

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**AEROGA: Welp. I'm back with a redux of one of my already posted stories. Except somewhat frequent updates as I have quite a few chapter lined up. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.**


	2. The Master Plan

CHAPTER TWO: THE MASTER PLAN

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_"Maybe I will never be all these things that I wanna be."_

_-Oasis_

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When I was around the age of twelve I was sent to live in one of the most phenomenal places in Johto; Mahogany Town. It was a small town located in between Ecruteak City and Blackthorn City. The people there were incredibly friendly and they didn't ask many questions about who I was or my past. I met the Gym Leader Pryce; an old man full of wisdom who was hell bent on making the children of Mahogany remember the past. He told me and three other kids that "One day I'll be gone and the history I'll have to tell will gone with me". I thought he was the most intriguing person I had come across since the whole fiasco with Team Rocket. I made my first friend. A girl named Astoria. She was kind and made stomach flutter whenever I was near her. Yeah, she was my first crush ever. Mahogany Town was the first place I wanted to call my home.

And then, the Marshalls received intel that NeoRockets had a base of operations somewhere within the town. They said they needed to get me out of the town before one of them noticed me. And thus, my happiness shattered like glass and I was moved to Goldenrod. Remember the Radio Tower Crisis of 2007? I was there in Goldenrod when it happened. Rockets held a bunch of people hostage in the Radio Tower and I happened to be trying to win a brand new PokéTech. Luckily for me, I had just dyed my hair black and put on some glasses so the NeoRockets didn't recognize me.

I sat for three days with 59 other hostages until a 13 year old boy by the name of Gold came and liberated the tower with sheer force alone.

The Marshall Service moved me to one of the worst places on earth; Pacifidlog Town. It was a town in the middle of the ocean that laid on top of rafts. Wooden makeshift rafts. The entire idea that anyone would put their trust in a those rickety rafts made me feel uneasy. Walking about "town" was no easy feat either. I would often slip off the raft and take unexpected swims with the local water Pokemon. I hated Pacifidlog Town.

And then... the Legendary Pokemon Rayquaza was awaken by Team Aqua and Team Magma; two groups of lunatics bent on expanding the sea and land. Maybe someone didn't give them the memo that said "we need water to survive" and "we also need land to live on... and survive". Pretty sure their leaders failed Earth Science.

Anyway, when Rayquaza was awakened, it descended Sky Pillar and took out its rage on the nearest thing; Pacifidlog Town. Luckily for me, I had screwing around with a raft a little ways from the town. I got a second hand view of the horror that Legendaries were capable of.

During the time I floated in the little raft without so much as a cup of water to my name, I realized how much I did need a Pokemon to protect myself. Screw what the Marshalls said. Disaster followed me wherever I went and sooner or later it was going to get me killed.

The plan was to originally fake my death, but that idea seemed outrageous. Where would I get a body? Or for that matter anyone to help me? I didn't know anybody or trust anyone enough. So I settled on running away. But... there was a catch. I had to wait until I was in Unova. I heard that the region was dropping their isolation act so it was only a matter or time before I was shipped off there. No matter what, I would go back to Johto.

Eventually some fishermen picked me up and brought me back to the nearby town of Mauville, where I was admitted into the hospital for a couple of weeks while I recovered from a wide range of aliments.

The Marshalls moved me immediately after I was fully recovered. This time to Mossdeep City. Nothing particularly interesting happened there, but I did get to meet the region's current Champion; Steven Stone. Though I didn't say much to him because apparently I wasn't good enough to acknowledge since I didn't have a Pokemon. I started to save up all the money I received from my current caretakers. My plan was moving, slowly, but it was definitely moving.

I stayed in Mossdeep City for maybe a year and half before for absolutely no reason at all they moved me to Solaecon Town in Sinnoh. If I thought Pacifidlog Town was horrible, well, Solaecon laughed in my face and proved to me that there were worse places out there. I got to watch beady eyed ten year olds pass through. It killed me to know that kids so irresponsible were allowed to have Pokemon and I wasn't. I'd been good. I hadn't slipped up. Disaster just followed me places and it wasn't my fault. Or at least I hoped it wasn't.

Almsot a year into my stay, I decided I had enough of Solaecon Town and blabbed my identity to the loud mouth across the street. Needless to say, the Marshall Service was angry. But I didn't care. I couldn't take anymore of the stupid townspeople, the unown from the nearby ruin that had taken a liking to me and often floated around me saying things like "prophecy" and other cryptic things, and worst of all the greenhorn trainers that would come through town.

But it turned out to be one of the best things I had ever done, for I was moved to Unova. Nimbasa City was the name of the place I would be staying at. A while back I had done some research about the Pokemon that populated the region. All the powerful ones were much too far away for me to get to, and far to dangerous to go without Pokemon. So I settled on the bug/poison type, venipede.

As soon as I got to my new home, I applied for my Trainer's license. Unova was all against letting stupid people, much less ten year olds carry around dangerous Pokemon. The starting age here was 14, and luckily I was two years over that. I passed, thank Arceus, and the lab techs rewarded me with a Pokédex, a single pokéball, and my Trainer's license that I used a previous alias for. They offered to give me one of the region's starters, but I turned them down. I wanted to catch my own.

And step two to my master plan was complete. All that was left was three; obtaining a venipede, four; packing what I needed, and five; finding the perfect escape route from Unova that the Marshalls would not expect.

My dream was about to come to fruition and I could hardly wait.

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**Next chapter:** The main character finally having gotten used to Unova sets off in search of a venipede, but as usual nothing goes as planned.


	3. The Movie Unreeling, About to Begin

CHAPTER THREE: THE MOVIE UNREELING, ABOUT TO BEGIN

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"I was supposed to do great things."

-Cold War Kids (Miracle Mile)

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"Wake up, kid," said Marshall Holcomb as he tapped his fist gently against my bedroom door.

In response I simply groaned and pulled the cover over my head. I don't know why the older man insisted on waking me up before he left. I was perfectly capable of doing things by myself. Besides it wasn't like I had anywhere to go. School was out for the summer, which didn't make much of difference since I was home schooled anyway.

"No, no, kiddo. We had this discussion before. You get up when I leave for work and I make you breakfast. Growing boys have to eat, yeah? You're at that age, mate. That age where gi-" the Marshall said in his thick Unovian accent, before I promptly interrupted him with "Sheesh. I'm getting up."

Marshall Fletcher Holcomb was actually the first of my care takers that I had actually taken a liking to. That's probably because he wasn't as strict and boring as the others. I think he was in his late twenties maybe early thirties. He had black hair that was always neat and combed to the right. His eyes were a plain dark brown. He had a small scar just above his head. He told me as an explanation for it to never trust roselia. He was taller than me, perhaps a bit too tall. He was also lanky, but I was sure when it came to fight or flight, any criminal would choose flight before he was done with them. His face was always clean shaved, not a single stray hair. The Marshall suffered from OCD. He told me they'd given him this baby sitting job since he flipped out when the chief messed with his pens. He still went back to do his desk job though. He was very serious about things being in their proper order. He had this annoying habit too, where in the middle of the night he would get up and vacuum... every night. But once you got passed that he was actually pretty swell.

I crawled out of bed and murmured any cuss that I could think of as I shuffled over to the door. Almost as soon as I unlocked it, I was greeted with a door to the face. "What the hell?" I said rubbing my nose. I made sure it wasn't bleeding.

Fletcher paid me no mind, instead he grabbed a fistful of my shirt and tugged me me through the house and into the kitchen. On the table was a plate of sunny-side up eggs, which were perfect in nearly every way possible, and a cup of orange juice, with the spoons and forks neatly placed beside it.

Everyday, for the last four weeks, Fletcher made me breakfast. When I told him I didn't eat breakfast, he was appalled. The ideas of a growing teenage boy not eating breakfast was blasphemy to him. So from that day forth, he made sure I did.

"Eat all of it," he threatened as he pushed me into the seat. I nodded a bit and picked up my fork. When I started putting the food into my mouth he began to speak once more. "I'm leaving Lily with you today," he said as his vaporeon trotted into the kitchen. "Do be sure to take her out with you. Make sure you feed her at exactly twelve o'clock no later. And for the love of Arceus, be home by eight or I will come looking for you."

I just nodded in response. I was actually pretty happy. For one, he trusted me enough to leave me with his Pokemon and secondly, I'd have help trying to capture my very first Pokemon. Fletcher, of course didn't know that, and I wasn't about to tell him either. Lily would weaken that poor unsuspecting venipede and wah-lah! Step number three out of the way.

Fletcher patted me on the back and told me to have a nice, preferably uneventful, day. He also reminded me to be home before eight. Then disappeared through the front doors.

I sat for a while after Fletcher's car had pulled off with Lily the vaporeon's eyes glued to me. She didn't even so much as blink.

"What?" I spoke with food in my mouth. "What are looking at?"

The vaporeon said nothing in response, but her finned tail swished behind her. I eventually went back to eating my food, no longer caring that she was watching me.

She followed me everywhere. When I got up to wash my plate, she was already at my side. It was like she was going to protect me to the ends of Unova because that was her job. I washed the dishes slowly, occasionally looking down at her only to find she was still watching me.

I walked to my bedroom and she followed promptly beside me. I took a shower, making sure to lock the door so she wouldn't get in and that began her loud obnoxious whining.

"Vaaaaa," she whined from outside of the door as I proceeded to get dressed. I put on a grey T-shirt and some black silk like running pants. There was need to dress fancy if I was most likely going to get dirty while searching for a venipede in Pinwheel Forest. I opened the door and her whining immediately ceased, though she looked incredibly peeved.

"Oh, don't give me that look," I told her as I walked over to my bed and fished my hand under the mattress. I pulled out my Pokédex and the single pokéball I had received from the lab.

"Vaa!" she hissed when she saw what I was holding.

"Oh be quiet," I smirked, getting to my feet.

"Vaaa. Vaaa!" she said as her tail swished angrily behind her.

"I don't even know what you're saying, but if you're patronizing me, don't even bother. You can either stay here or help. Either way, I'm going out to catch a Pokemon," I shrugged.

She seemed to weigh her options for a minute. She got up from her spot and trotted to my side.

"That's what I thought."

As soon as I got onto the porch, Lily attached herself to my leg. I nearly stumbled into a nearby rose bush, and might've if I didn't grab hold of the pillar beside it. She paid me no mind as she scanned the area. Once she was sure it was safe, she walked down the steps.

Nimbasa City was actually a nice place to live in. There was a wide assortment of things to do. There was the Musical Theater which I couldn't stand for the life of me. There was the giant Ferris Wheel that I usually spent my time on or hanging about. Big Stadium where the Nimbasa Thunderbolt Strikes played every now and then. Last but not least there was Small Court. I had no clue what went on in there, nor did I really care to check.

Oh and let's not forget Gear Station, home to the notorious Battle Subway. If I wasn't at the Ferris Wheel, I was here. Though you needed a Pokemon to actually participate I would just sit outside and try to guess which person would come out victorious. I'd only seen one person come out a winner. The others who lost would come out teary eyed or angry.

Anyway, I took a bus to Castelia City since I didn't want to cross the dessert by myself without the proper attire. For Castelia I took a taxi to Skyarrow Bridge. Lily tried to engage in the conversation the taxi driver and I were having despite the fact that neither of us had the slightest clue what she was saying.

Even though it was well into the morning, the bridge was packed with commuters, tourists, and trainers alike. Most of them appeared to be trainers. I made sure to keep my Pokédex and pokéball out of sight. Arceus forbid I caught the eye of a trainer and they thought Lily was mine. I'm sure that Fletcher would not have been happy if I came home with an unconscious eeveelution in my arms. Just the thought sent a shudder down my spine.

Off to the side a gabite and a milotic were raging a battle. I was tempted to stop and watch it, but I had a more important things to do.

Thankfully we made it to Pinwheel Forest without any incident. Lily went into instant guard mode as soon as the trees began to tower over out heads.

"We're looking for a venipede, okay?" I told her as we pushed through some tall grass off to the side. I'd never been in tall grass before that moment. Just the entire ordeal was riveting. The fact that at any given moment a Pokemon could jump me exciting. In reality, it shouldn't have been. I could get paralyzed or poisoned, or worse Lily could. I didn't know where the nearest Center was so if either of us did... well... we'd be outta luck. Of course, at the time it didn't cross my mind.

The two of us came across some sewaddle and its evolution, a few pansage, a lot of pidove, one or two petilil, and a cottonee. Not a single venipede was to be found. But I wasn't going to give up. I had my mind set on one thing and that was what I was intended to get.

The further the two of us ventured into the forest, the more eerily quiet it got. I shrugged it off and continued forth. A little fog wasn't going to stop me. But what did stop me was Lily's tail to my face.

"Ow!" I hissed, pushing her tail out of my face.

"Vaporeon," she said, pointing forward with her paw.

I looked ahead and there it was. A venipede lounging in the middle of some grass.

"Finally," I sighed in relief. "Thanks Lily," I told her as I patted her on the head. She brushed her head against my palm affectionately. "All right, weaken it just enough for me to be able to catch it." The venipede still hadn't noticed us, for it was far too busy chewing on some grass.

Lily slowly crept forward. I waited with anticipation as she got ready to pound. I was about to capture my very first Pokemon. Happiness and excitement welled up inside of me.

When she finally did attack, the venipede didn't see it coming... and neither did a cottonee, who I hadn't noticed was lying beside the bug until then last second. Lily whacked the bug onto its back and sent the cottonee flying with her tail into some nearby bushes. I swore it sounded like the thing had started crying, but I didn't really care. The venipede lied on its back, desperately trying to get back on its feet.

"Good job, Lily," I said as I pulled out my pokéball. I pressed the button in the middle and the ball expanded. "Well... here goes nothing." I threw the ball with all my might at the struggling bug.

But, of course, since most things in my life never happened the way I wanted them to, the most unexpected thing happened. The cottonee that Lily had so easily disposed of moments earlier, floated in front of the bug.

"What the duck? No!" I screamed as the ball hit the giant cottonball and sucked it in with a flash of white light. Lily, and even the wild venipede, looked shocked as the ball fell to the ground, shaking violently.

"Arceus, break out of the damn ball. Break out- " I thought but a soft beep rang out, telling me that it was far too late now.

I had caught the cottonee.

My frustrated screams echoed through the forest that day.

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**Next Chapter: The main character has a bit difficulty thinking of a name for his new Pokemon.**


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